The Old Coastal Steamboats
By FRED KELLY
In our neck of the woods, living
near water had many advantages, not
the least of which was the privilege
of watching the private yachts, pas¬
senger and freight steamboats, and
sailing vessels as they came and went.
Some of the private yachts belonged to
sportsmen who visited our part of the
state almost every year during the
hunting season.
According to Col. C. Wingate
Reed’s Beaufort County — Two
Centuries of fts History. Steamers
first came to Washington (Beaufort
County) in 1847. Regular lines were
soon established plying between Wash¬
ington, other Eastern North Carolina
ports, and as far north as Norfolk and
Baltimore. The Old Dominion Steam¬
ship Company ran regularly scheduled
ships between Washington and Ocra-
eoke. The Clyde Line ran regularly
scheduled ships between Washington
and Norfolk. The Steamer Amidas —
a stern-wheeler — was built for river
traffic between Washington, Greenville
and Tarboro. The R. L. Myers and
the Edgecombe were also in this
service. Among the steamboats plying
these w'atcrs below Washington were
the Pamlico, New Bern, Hatteras,
Ocracoke and Olive.
One would make a trip from New
Bern to Ocracoke and up to Washing¬
ton once a week. At times the Hatteras
made moonlight cruises down the
river, and always had a crowd of old
and young folks aboard. From time
to time weekend excursions were run
from Washington to Ocracoke —
leaving Saturday nights and returning
Sunday nights.
Dinty Moore, who grew up in Wash¬
ington, tells me that his first trip
away from home alone, at the age of
six, was aboard the R. L. Myers, in
charge of Captain Parvin, to visit his
grandfather. Sheriff Warren in Green¬
ville.
This was before the railroads were
in general use. and the predecessor of
the Norfolk-Southern owned a number
of steamboats, which operated out of
Edenton into Albemarle Sound and
the Roanoke River, and served
Mackeys, Halifax, Winton, Columbia,
Jamesville, Plymouth and Williams-
ton. The Jamesville & Washington
Railroad made connection with these
steamers. There was also steamboat
service up the Chowan and the Black-
water rivers to Franklin, Va., that
connected with the Seaboard & Roa¬
noke Railroad (one of the predeces¬
sors of the Seaboard Coast Line
Railroad).
Saw mills were at the height of
their activity, and after the lumber was
kiln-dried, it was loaded on ocean¬
going barges which were lined up and
fastened together, and a tug took them
on the first leg of their long journey
to such northern markets as Phila¬
delphia. It was a very interesting sight
to sec a tug with several barges strung
out behind going down the river.
Quoting from Wingate’s book:
“Shipping on the Pamlico River
greatly increased after Washington
became a port.’’ Since there was con¬
siderable commerce between Wash¬
ington and foreign ports, the Treasury
Department, Bureau of Customs ad¬
vises us “The Act of August 4, 1790,
which created the Customs District of
Washington, North Carolina, provided
that the town of Washington be the
sole port of entry and delivery, and
further provided for a Collector to
reside within the same.” Personnel
records indicate the First Collector
was appointed at Washington, N. C.
October 2, 1790; and “During the
Revolution, Washington and the Pam¬
lico became one of the principal
sources of supply for the Continental
Army. By the middle of the 19th Cen¬
tury, Washington was handling more
than half of the water-borne commerce
of the State."
By the time of which I write, the
protection of shipping had become
very important to the economy of
North Carolina, and to that end the
Government established a buoy yard
on the Pamlico River, where there
were assembled and maintained many
channel markers for use in the various
rivers and sounds. So many shipwrecks
had occurred off the North Carolina
coast, the area around Cape Hatteras
became known as “The Graveyard of
the Atlantic.” Former Congressman
John H. Small spent a lifetime working
in the interests of this area, many
years of which were devoted to pro¬
moting the Intracoastal Waterway.
THE STATE, AUSUST IS, 1363
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